Joseph Stella
The Amazon
1925
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Joseph Stella
The Amazon
1925
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Unframed: 27 x 22 in. (68.6 x 55.9 cm) Framed: 30 x 24 3/4 in. (76.2 x 62.9 cm)
Credit Line
Purchase with exchange funds from the Edward Joseph Gallagher III Memorial Collection
Object Number
1991.13
Amazons were powerful female warriors featured in ancient Greek mythology. In the late 1800s, the term was applied to French and English women famed for their fashion sense and courage on horseback. A favored subject for artists, they were depicted wearing black riding clothes and carrying a crop. By 1925, Joseph Stella had updated this subject: the Amazon is now an American woman of the machine age, and her streamlined profile suggests power and efficiency. She looks out across the landscape with a possessive gaze that evokes American
imperialism of the 20th century.
High Museum of Art, "Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature". High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, 23 February 2023- 21 May 2023.
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, "Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties,"
The Brooklyn Museum of Art October 28 2011 - January 29 2011; Dallas Museum of Art March 4 2012 - May 27 2012;Cleveland Art Museum July 1 2012 - September 16 2012.
BMA, "American Modernism from the Collection," June 25, 2003-
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, "Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties,"
The Brooklyn Museum of Art October 28 2011 - January 29 2011; Dallas Museum of Art March 4 2012 - May 27 2012;Cleveland Art Museum July 1 2012 - September 16 2012.
BMA, "American Modernism from the Collection," June 25, 2003-
'In the Spotlight,' 'BMA Today,' September 1991
Teresa A., Carbone. "Body Language: Liberation and Restraint in Twenties Figuration." "Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties." Edited by Teresa A. Carbone. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications Inc. & Brooklyn Museum, 2011. p. 95, ill. p.97.
Heydt, Stephanie Mayer, Ellen E. Roberts, Karli R. Wurzelbacher, Ara H. Merjian, and Audrey M. Lewis. "Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature." Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 2023. ill. p. 128.
